The lack of acknowledgement in the federal budget of South Coast residents affected by last summer's bushfires has been dubbed a "slap in the face for the region".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the absence of new bushfire relief in the budget, the first since last summer's blazes, was not good enough.
"It was amazing listening to a speech, where, unless I missed it, there was scant reference to the greatest natural disaster that our region or the country's seen in living memory," he said.
"I just thought it was a slap in the face for the region."
In January, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the federal government would allocate at least $2bn for bushfire recovery.
While recognising the importance of addressing the pandemic's economic impact, Mr Rorris said the government had now "moved on" from the bushfires to the COVID-19 crisis.
"Buried in the budget papers, they said there's a $2 billion allocation. That was announced in January, and by the way, where is it?
"What it tells people (in the region) is that we're not very far up in the pecking order.
"It's just a shame for the people on the South Coast who have lost their houses, and who are living in tents and caravans."
Local Federal Labor MPs say they are "astounded" that despite the Morrison Government "plunging Australia into one trillion dollars of debt", there was not one project for the Illawarra.
"While there are some good initiatives in this budget such as tax relief for low and middle income earners and investment in mental health services which Labor will support, unfortunately the Illawarra has again been forgotten when it comes to investment in our region," MPs Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones said in a statement.
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
